Imagine that DC just released a brand-new story with much hype and hoopla. The premise? The Joker gets ahold of a kyptonite knife and cuts off Superman's dick.

Does the idea make you uncomfortable? Does it make you cringe? Does it make you feel a little sick? Does the very idea made you angry?

Now imagine that this premise isn't even the point of the story. This horrific, brutal act is used as nothing more than an excuse ... as a plot device.

Now imagine that this isn't an isolated incident ... that male character having their dicks cut off in a brutal, often sexualised manner is standard fare in comic books. Imagine that it's a running theme.

This is what it feels like to be a female comic reader: watching the characters most like you be hurt in ways that make you feel sick, and horrified, and disgusted. Again. And again.